How enterprise procurement teams can adopt non-toxic cleaning products

As cleaning product regulations and your organization’s responsible purchasing goals change, your enterprise procurement team has to remain in the loop, updating internal and external purchasing regulations without slowing down operations. An easy way to preempt these moving parts may be switching to non-toxic cleaning products. 

These types of cleaning products often avoid using potentially harmful ingredients. To find the right products for your organization—ones that align with your budget—you need an efficient, centralized way to find, assess, and select non-toxic cleaning products and their suppliers. Doing so will help you leverage procurement as a long-term, scalable strategy for your organization.

Why non-toxic cleaning matters

From helping you meet your organization's responsible purchasing mandates to ensuring you abide by your industry cleaning ingredient regulations, non-toxic cleaning is a strategic focus point for organizations. Here’s a breakdown of why non-toxic cleaning is important for organizations of all sizes and across industries. 

Regulatory and compliance pressures

Your procurement team plays a role in your organization’s proactive approach to stay compliant with non-toxic cleaning product regulations. Otherwise, your business can face an increased risk of fines or legal issues, depending on your industry. To ensure you’re up to date on the latest regulations, you’re likely monitoring Safer Choice from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), OSHA Standards, EU REACH, and regional mandates as they revise regulations and alert consumers to potentially harmful ingredients, such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and volatile organic compounds (VOCS).​

PFAS, or "forever chemicals,” are in certain cleaning products and can cause adverse health effects for individuals who are around them regularly. VOCS, on the other hand, are gases that some cleaning products release. They might lead to harmful short-term health impacts like headaches or dizziness.

Leading regulations, like the EPA’s Safer Choice Standards and Criteria, test and monitor these hazardous ingredients, then update regulations. Your organization must stay apprised of these changes and abide by the regulations that are relevant to your industry.

Protecting employee health and indoor air quality

Because some cleaning product ingredients can cause adverse health effects, working with them can become uncomfortable or even dangerous for employees. This is one reason why organizations are looking to switch to non-toxic cleaning products. In doing so, you can create a healthier indoor work environment with the following benefits:

• Employees need fewer sick days: Teams can avoid symptoms like headaches, difficulty breathing, or light-headedness linked to exposure to harmful cleaning products, so they require fewer sick days, which means your operations will function more efficiently.

• Workplace maintains high air quality: A work environment with healthy air quality means your team is less likely to see adverse health effects, both in the short and long term.

• Staff may feel safer in the workplace: If your team knows you’ve taken proper precautions when choosing cleaning products, they might feel more confident and comfortable at work.

   

Every organization needs a strong team to keep behind-the-scenes operations running. A workplace that prioritizes employee safety and health is well-positioned to grow its operations, drive profits, and accomplish its goals.

Responsible purchasing alignment

Your organization most likely faces mounting pressure to achieve sustainable procurement practices and socially responsible purchasing (SRP). The products you use internally, such as cleaning products, contribute to your SRP goals by helping lower your organization’s overall environmental impact. Both the products and your procurement strategy are key factors in how you measure your environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) impact. 

The ESG and CSR frameworks determine how effectively your organization regulates its environmental impact through its purchasing standards, and non-toxic cleaning products are part of this assessment.

However, in addition to using non-toxic products, you might also need to partner with suppliers that prioritize lowering their environmental impact. Solutions like Amazon Business help procurement teams find these vendors with sustainability certifications. And, when you couple it with Guided Buying (a Business Prime feature), it encourages buyers to purchase from your organization’s preferred suppliers. That way, you work with vendors that help you achieve your CSR goals.

Criteria for evaluating non-toxic cleaners

With this information about cleaners and ingredients at your fingertips, it can be challenging to assess the facts and choose the right products for your organization. But you’re not alone. Your teams might consider the following factors when evaluating your cleaner options to help you make a confident decision:

Ingredient transparency and hazardous chemicals to avoid

To understand your cleaning products, work with suppliers who are transparent about their processes, ingredients, and packaging. Your team can use this checklist to guide your assessment:

• Inquire about VOCs, chlorine bleach, PFAS, and phthalates: These ingredients can be considered harmful in some settings, so make sure to ask about them specifically. 

• Ask for an ingredient list from vendors: Suppliers should provide you with comprehensive ingredient lists for each of their products. If you see an ingredient that you don’t recognize, make sure to look it up so you know if it risks violating your organization’s cleaning product regulations.

• Look for transparent suppliers: A list of diverse suppliers with product ingredients and accreditation transparency can simplify your vendor search by helping you narrow down a list of suppliers that fit your organization’s needs. 

   

This part of the process is a good time to get to know potential vendors. You can evaluate their past performance and experience their communication style, both of which indicate the possibility of a successful long-term partnership.

Certifications that matter for enterprises

Sustainability and responsible purchasing certifications help you narrow down your potential vendors for non-toxic cleaning products. By identifying which certifications have criteria that align with your organization’s goals, you can find potential suppliers quickly. These are the leading certifications and what it means if a supplier has one:​

• EPA Safer Choice: Products with the Safer Choice label meet strict ingredient standards while maintaining strong performance.

• GreenSeal GS-37: Cleaning products with the GreenSeal adhere to guidelines that make them ideal as industrial and institutional all-purpose cleaners.

• UL ECOLOGO: Organizations with this certification meet sustainable practice criteria throughout their product ingredients, packaging, and manufacturing.

• United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) BioPreferred: Suppliers that have this certification use biobased and biodegradable ingredients in their products and packaging.

• EU Ecolabel: Companies with this certification prioritize making responsible environmental decisions throughout the entire procurement or product lifecycle.

   

As regulations concerning cleaning supplies and packaging ingredients shift, the standards for these qualifications may change too. That’s why it’s a good practice to monitor these organizations, alongside your suppliers and organization’s practices, to make sure you abide by these regulations.

Supplier transparency and traceability

Along with ingredient and certification transparency, you must also consider a vendor’s internal practices as their policies for selecting and testing non-toxic ingredients could be a critical part of deciding if they offer the right product for you. For insight into their regulatory compliance policies, request this information:

• Safety data sheets (SDSs): These documents provide insight into possibly harmful chemical ingredients in the vendor’s products and handling instructions.

• Third-party lab tests: Independent organizations that aren’t affiliated with the product manufacturer should test and report on your vendor’s non-toxic cleaning products to ensure the results are not biased toward either party.

• Audit results: Vendors should provide you with results from recent audits as proof of their ongoing compliant business practices. Doing so is a gesture of transparency, which can boost trust.

   

Reviewing data from these sources is part of the initial vendor vetting process, but you’ll also monitor it throughout your engagement with the supplier. To do this successfully, build vendor audits in your contract, including terms like when and how the audits will take place. By stating these conditions within your agreement with the supplier, you ensure traceability and transparency throughout the engagement. 

Performance and cost 

Cost is a top concern when switching cleaning products. Because cleaning supplies are an overhead that helps keep your business running smoothly, you’ll categorize it as an indirect cost when planning your budget. 

As your team strives to balance its budget with factors like maintaining a healthy work environment, adhering to regulations, and making responsible purchasing decisions, it also has to consider product performance. 

The following breakdown lists the pros and cons of conventional versus non-toxic cleaners for you to use when assessing the performance and cost of each:

Pros of traditional cleaners:

• Conventional cleaners are less expensive up front than products with non-toxic ingredients.

• More vendors offer conventional cleaners.

• The potentially harsh ingredients can make traditional cleaners a more effective option.

   

Cons of traditional cleaners:

• Some traditional cleaners can pose a health risk to employees, which may lead to workers’ compensation claims and legal issues.

• Conventional cleaners can be pollutants, which might harm local waterways and workplace air.

• Increasing restrictions on some harmful ingredients can put your organization at risk of being non-compliant.

   

Pros of non-toxic cleaners:

• Using unscented or fragrance-free products can result in a higher indoor air quality.

• Non-toxic cleaners can contain the safest possible ingredients and can help increase health and safety for employees.

• By potentially lowering the risk of worker injury, compensation claims, and medical expenses, you may see long-term cost savings.

• Non-toxic cleaners can help organizations achieve responsible purchasing goals.

• Procurement teams may purchase fewer products because non-toxic cleaners tend to be more versatile.

• Non-toxic cleaners tend to cause less damage to surfaces.

   

Cons of non-toxic cleaners:

• Usually, it takes more effort to find and monitor vendors that offer non-toxic cleaners.

• Non-toxic ingredients often have a shorter shelf life, so you’ll need to moderate bulk buying.

• Some non-toxic cleaners are less effective than those with harsh ingredients, so they might not be suitable for all workplaces.

• There’s a greater initial cost due to higher price points for non-toxic cleaners and regular replacement of existing cleaning products.

   

As you consider cleaning product performance and cost, it can be helpful to look at your current goals, needs, and pain points. Gaining insight into these areas illuminates your priorities and helps you choose a product, supplier, and roll-out strategy.

Packaging, waste reduction, and bulk options

Responsible purchasing also includes product packaging and waste reduction efforts. Strategies like choosing plastic-free, recycled, or reusable packaging, such as glass spray bottles, can help you decrease total waste. You can also choose procurement practices that promote sustainability, like opting for concentrated solutions that last longer when diluted, using refill systems to reduce waste, and implementing bulk order programs to decrease delivery frequency.​

Implementing non-toxic cleaning at scale

A slow and steady approach is key when implementing non-toxic cleaning at scale because it helps you stay agile and adjust to unexpected challenges. The following strategies can support your team in conducting a gradual rollout.

Updating procurement policies and RFP specifications

Revising procurement and request for proposal (RFP) policy is the first step to implement non-toxic cleaning at scale as these guidelines set the standard for how your organization procures goods. These are examples of wording you could add to your purchasing policies to clearly communicate new specifications: 

• “The vendor must include all certifications, past audit results, and ingredient lists.”

• “In addition to responsible purchasing certifications, the supplier will send an SDS with transparent ingredient lists and proper handling instructions.”

• “The supplier will disclose any usage of harmful ingredients, such as VOCS or PFAS, in current or past cleaning products.”

   

When you make language changes to RFP policies, it’s important to also have a plan for how to share them with the rest of your organization. All of your buyers need to know procedural revisions, so they can make sure to place orders according to internal purchasing policy. 

Supplier vetting and ongoing audits

Trustworthy suppliers are a critical part of switching to non-toxic cleaning products as you rely on their ingredient transparency and reliable delivery to achieve your goals. Your team can assess supplier reliability through rigorous initial vetting and ongoing audits. This checklist is useful for guiding how you monitor vendor performance and communicate expectations to suppliers: 

• On-time delivery: Track whether the supplier consistently delivers on time.

• Product quality: Determine if the product quality consistently meets your expectations.

• Ingredient list transparency: Monitor vendor openness about ingredient lists or any changes to them.

• Changes to certifications: Ask suppliers for updates to certifications as industry regulations shift.

• Internal standards: Get an inside look at how the vendor ensures responsible purchasing in its business practices.

• Safety data sheets: Require a comprehensive SDS that provides ingredient lists and handling instructions, if necessary.

   

Finding suppliers that meet all these expectations can be time-consuming and frustrating for procurement teams of all sizes, but the right digital solution can simplify the process. 

Amazon Business’s network of suppliers with certifications allows you to shop over 2.2 million products with the Climate Pledge Friendly label from more than 50 certifiers. Certifications you can use to sort and find suppliers include the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, USDA Organic, and EPA Safer Choice.

Pilot testing, scaling, and training cleaning staff

To implement non-toxic cleaning at scale, you need a clear and concise strategy. The following steps can serve as your team’s roadmap to testing, implementing, and training staff on your new approach:

• Start with one pilot site: By testing your strategy in a small, controlled setting, it’s easier for your team to identify its results.

• Monitor the outcomes of the new routine: Within the smaller pilot setting, spot what works and what doesn’t, then make changes accordingly. 

• Expand the initiative enterprise-wide: Once you’ve devised a tested and achievable strategy, the final step is implementing it across your organization. 

   

As you test the rollout at your pilot site, it can be helpful to think about your communication strategy. How you provide instructions for any procedural change, especially when implementing enterprise-wide, plays a key role in the success of your strategy. So, it’s worthwhile to pay attention to instruction phrasing, staff questions, or confusion that arises during the pilot test. 

Monitoring, reporting, and KPIs

Data is a conclusive way to show the impact of switching to non-toxic cleaning products. But this data involves more than just financial key performance indicators (KPIs)—it also includes metrics that illuminate procurement operational efficiency, workplace safety, and employee satisfaction. Examples of these KPIs include health incident and waste reduction, compliance rate, and total cost savings when assessing results.

As a tip, set both short- and long-term goals. This will make clear to your organization’s leadership and stakeholders that you recognize the up-front cost of swapping to non-toxic cleaning products but still expect long-term benefits.

Overcoming common barriers

Knowing best practices for switching to non-toxic cleaning is the first step. But to overcome possible barriers, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with these common setbacks.

Higher up-front costs vs. long-term ROI

A short-term downside of non-toxic cleaning products is the up front cost. Generally, cleaning products with more eco-friendly ingredients have a higher price point per unit, and you may also have to restock your existing cleaning supplies. However, you can offset the impact of this short-term cost by gradually switching to non-toxic products. 

As you make this change, you can also quantify the long-term ROI of non-toxic cleaning products by tracking KPIs, such as total waste reduction or purchase order cycle time.

Supplier availability and regional gaps

Depending on your location, finding suppliers with reasonably priced, non-toxic cleaners could mean expanding your search beyond your immediate area. However, this introduces additional challenges, such as vetting suppliers for globally recognized certifications, navigating complex shipping requirements, and dealing with supply chain complications.

Luckily, Amazon Business can support your team in finding the right suppliers for responsible sourcing, no matter where you operate. This solution displays multi-region suppliers, which allows you to see all of the non-toxic cleaning product vendors that are available if regional suppliers aren’t the right fit.

Performance concerns

Conventional cleaning products can clean more effectively because of their chemical ingredients, which means using some non-toxic cleaners may require more effort to clean as thoroughly. But this doesn’t mean you should avoid non-toxic cleaners. Instead, you can incorporate product effectiveness into your criteria, such as disinfection, degreasing, deodorizing, and streak-free cleaning, when searching for new products. 

One caveat for non-toxic versus conventional cleaning product performance is your industry. Some spaces, like hospitals or food preparation environments, have strict sanitation policies and require certain ingredients that meet performance needs. For these environments, some non-toxic cleaning products may not work. It’s important to review ingredients, your organization’s policy, and select products that meet those needs. 

Buy-in from facilities and staff

It’s easier to get your team on board to switch products and processes with a change management plan because it provides a detailed, tested roadmap for implementation. When facilities and staff know exactly what to expect, a big change can be less intimidating. Your team can use these practical tactics to gain buy-in:

• Shortlist of potential vendors: With a small list of viable vendors prepared, you present stakeholders with suppliers that fit organizational needs and avoid potentially overwhelming them with options.

• Staff training strategy: Cleaning teams don’t want to be left on their own to figure out new cleaning policies with non-toxic products. To help get buy-in, demonstrate your plan to make sure everyone knows the new policies and procedures.

• Change management timeline: Making any product or process transition is a time investment, so have a change management timeline ready. That way, stakeholders know how long until the organization has fully transitioned.

• Challenges you foresee: By revealing possible challenges and their solutions, you show stakeholders that you’re prepared for barriers that could delay rollout. Taking this step can help build trust among your facilities and staff. 

• Short- and long-term reasons to make the change: Your stakeholders might ask why your organization should switch to non-toxic cleaning. To answer the question, use measurable KPIs to illustrate the positive impact you expect the change to have on your operations, sustainability goals, and finances. 

   

Without buy-in from your organization's facilities and staff, you’ll run into problems when switching to non-toxic cleaning. Yet you can streamline change management by using features like Guided Buying. 

This Amazon Business feature encourages buyers to purchase from preferred vendors or choose specific products. This makes it easy for buyers to quickly find, choose, and order non-toxic products. Guided Buying simplifies a buyer’s process to get the supplies they need quickly, which increases the likelihood that they’ll choose your organization’s preferred options and maintain purchasing compliance. 

Future trends that procurement teams should watch

Procurement and responsible purchasing can be a competitive lever for your organization. Together, they facilitate long-term growth by lowering your risk of violating regulations, increasing operational efficiency, and enhancing your brand reputation. These are examples of trends worth keeping an eye on. 

PFAS and VOC regulations on the horizon

An increasing number of consumers are learning about the potentially harmful effects of PFAS and VOCS, and the EPA and other organizations are tightening restrictions around the use of these ingredients as new research emerges. To make sure you’re compliant, your team needs to track changing criteria for vendor certifications. In doing so, you can avoid the risk of violating regulations and the resulting fines or legal trouble. 

Innovation in green chemistry and enzyme-based cleaners

Ingredient lists are constantly evolving in an effort to be more environmentally and workplace-friendly. The result of these efforts is innovative new products, like enzyme-based cleaners, which can be an all-purpose cleaner and contain ingredients that remove odors and stains. In some cases, the enzyme cleaner works as effectively as a product with harsher ingredients. It’s worth monitoring how the science behind this type of green chemistry evolves and changes policies from leading regulatory organizations.

Linking cleaning procurement to sustainability reporting

It’s not enough to claim sustainability—your organization also has to show it through real-time reporting. These metrics reveal the impact of your organization’s efforts to lower its environmental impact. As responsible purchasing becomes a greater priority across industries, it will be critical to have the means to track and report on how your organization is making environmentally conscious decisions.

Going forward, your organization can make reporting on your socially responsible purchasing goals easier by using Amazon Business Analytics (a Business Prime feature) to create exportable reports of orders filtered by seller certifications.

Turn compliance into a competitive advantage

As responsible purchasing becomes a bigger priority across industries, purchasing policies and strategies that support your organization’s efforts to lower its environmental impact will be more of a competitive necessity. A switch to non-toxic cleaning can be an early step in achieving your responsible purchasing objectives. 

With the help of a digital solution such as Amazon Business, your transition to non-toxic cleaning can be a smooth and transparent process. The system simplifies sourcing products, discovering vendors with certifications, and reporting on the impact of your efforts. If your team is ready to explore its options for non-toxic cleaners and suppliers with sustainability certifications, contact Amazon Business.